Why should you go there and how do you do it right?

Phangnga Road is lined with restaurants catering to the lunch crowds of the Old Town, but this one actually serves authentic Phuket cuisine instead of a standardized national menu. The building is a hundred years old and has been lovingly restored, which is one reason for the many reservations, but the food is the real highlight. Crab fried rice is consistently mentioned in reviews. So is the Phuket pork stew, which is simmered until the meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender. Mango salad with fried fish and tamarind prawns are two other dishes I highly recommend, and the mango sticky rice has its devoted fans. The fried tofu is very spicy, more like stinky tofu than most people expect—so be prepared.

The service is the weak point. When the restaurant is full, the dishes are served in the wrong order, and occasionally a dish is even forgotten. On top of that, there's a service charge, which is particularly annoying when something goes wrong. The prices are reasonable for the food offered and the location.